easy crafted hair bow organizer

I made something! Something that didn't require glue dots! It came together so quickly I forgot to take real photos,  so here are just a couple from my phone.  I present to you TC'S new wall hanging hair bow organizer:

 It took less than a half hour to make and and under $20. For the base I used a 17" square canvas from the craft store, I think it was $12 regular so less with the ubiquitous coupons.  The fabric has bright little monsters on it and was $7.99 a yard, I used slightly over half of it.

I pulled it tight and used a staple gun to secure it to the frame. Then I ran three strip of ribbon across the front and stapled them to the frame in back. For extra security I stitched through the canvas and fabric and ribbon in a few places and adorned the stitches with a few beads I had lying around. This keeps the ribbon from bowing under the weight of the clips. Voila!

I'm so pleased! I actually might add more ribbon rows since we filled this up pretty quick, but I love that it is bright, organized, lightweight,  and basically makes functional things into art. Cheap and easy is also a bonus! 

Sale Away...

Man, yard sales are a LOT of work. Too much work really, but every once in a while you get a perfect combination of GORGEOUS weather, LOTS of shoppers, and a will to purge, even the fun stuff. It could not have gone better. After weeks of culling, pricing, and folding items for sale, the weekend finally came. We stacked all the goods on the porch from floor to ceiling and quickly ran out of room, spilling into the living room, and the dining room, and even the kitchen. This is but a fraction of what we dragged out on the lawn:

 

The first day of the sale we were too busy to stop and think about photos, so here are a few from the second day of the sale - we still had a lot of stuff, but it was less than HALF of the starting pile, maybe even just a third, so a lot easier to display - but somehow I missed getting a shot of my cute tents!:

 

 

Originally I had planned on doing Friday, Saturday, and a half day/half price Sunday, but the first two days really went so well that I decided I was able to call it quits early and avoid one more pack up/set up scenario, which is really the worst part of doing a yard sale. (That also meant I could have Sunday to recover!) There was still some stuff left over, but we had sold hundreds of tiny bits and baubles, most under $1, so the sheer volume was kind of impressive. A lot of people asked if I was moving - nope! This was all really just "extra," and it was the "extra" I thought I would still use above what I got rid of at the last sale, right after I found out I was pregnant. Post-kid, I realized there was a LOT more I wasn't going to be getting back to for quite some time :) Not to mention all the kid-stuff which was newly acquired!

 

So Saturday afternoon we happily packed up the remaining goods, taking back only a couple of tubs full - I usually consign The Cupcake's clothes with JBF, so I kept the nice stuff for that, sent a bunch to family members, and the rest went back out on the curb for the DAV to pick up:

 

 

 

ALL THAT STUFF IS GONE FROM MY HOUSE! I can actually walk up the stairs to the attic, not to mention move around up there. I still have a TON of cleaning and organizing to do to make the craftroom usable/not embarrassing, and 3 years+ of paperwork I haven't sorted through, but HUGE progress has been made. After three months of being "home" full time, I finally feel like I have accomplished something.

Also, yes, we had our share of weirdos. Parents letting their kids wreck stuff (WTH?!?!), a few sketchy tag disappearances/swaps, people quibbling about prices (usually $0.25 - not worth the headache!). On the prices, I almost never back down. I figure I spent hours upon hours pricing things, I set everything very low by my standards, and 99% of the time the person still buys the item! So I don't even let it bother me anymore, I just say no, and roll on. :)

I definitely feel great that none of this stuff ended up in a land fill, and so much of it found its way to new homes where it will be wanted and appreciated. Above that, I feel pretty proud that I was able to stretch our tight budget by making some of these unused assets liquid again - and to finally feel like I've "done something" this summer didn't hurt either :)



Outside the Box

I spent the weekend toiling away up in the "witch's tower" (formerly my craft room, AKA our finished attic) while Hubby and Grandpa entertained The Cupcake. I'm STILL working on organizing a yard sale (probably for August) and holy crap do I have...well, crap. I sincerely hope this isn't just a massive waste of time, it would be delightful to make a little money off all of my former treasures as I let them go. It will also be good to make a little space and organization though too.

Remember when I read Discardia and I was talking about the things I don't get bogged down with? I recently discovered something that I have a ridiculously hard time parting with that takes up TONS of space:

Okay, this isn't really my attic, but it might as well be. I have boxes of all shapes and sizes stashed up there, filling the eaves, piled up to the ceiling. I think I know why I save them - they're useful, they're free (all repurposed), it's green living, and having moved a few times I know what a pain it is to collect boxes and how nice it is to have good ones. But I'm not moving any time soon, and though it is convenient to be able to grab a box for anything I need to ship or giftwrap, it's not convenient to have to shuffle around 200 of them in order to access anything else, or even find the size I'm looking for. So I've come to a decision, the boxes are gonna go. I broke down a half dozen or so this weekend (I didn't say I was GOOD at getting rid of them yet, just that I decided to), and am using many more to organize sale stuff - boxes that will go with the "customer" who purchases each box load of goodies for a tidy sum that will fund many adventures for TC and I (hopefully). Recycling is picked up tomorrow, so maybe I'll commit to a few more before then.

And I'm somewhere around 18 rubbermade totes stacked full of priced yard sale merch, not including the clothing which I have yet to dig through. It is ridiculously hot up there, despite our "central air" and the fact that the attic is technically our 3rd bedroom, the HVAC is seriously flawed up there and it's really uncomfortable most of the year. We have a dedicated AC unit I could plug in if I made enough space, but that seems like a lot of work to do just to do more work, and working in short bursts is most effective for me anyways, so I just go till I'm dripping with sweat and then take a break to cool off and recharge. I'm seriously scaling back on Halloween and Christmas decor, craft supplies, kitchen tools, and who knows what else, I don't even remember what I've sorted through. Let's hope it cools off so shoppers flock to my yard and neither I nor my illustrious wares melt across the frown lawn.

Stuff I've gotten rid of this month:

Project: "organize + scrape up some cash" is going along beautifully. I'm sending stuff out the door by the boatload, and I haven't even had my yard sale yet. Here's a few of my big discards:

 

• Hubby's dumb broken boombox that took up way too much room in the bathroom and I cursed daily (got to throw it away when he was gifted a new, tiny radio - YAY!)

• My beloved creepy nun dolls - I had found them at the Goodwill and did a Happy Dance right in the store. I used them in the VooDoo Shop for my Romp in the Swamp Halloween party, and had them hanging out in my craft room for years before that, but they were ready for a new home. Luckily I saw a craigslist ad asking for CREEPY DOLLS (do you not love Craigslist?) and donated them to a dude who runs a nearby haunted house. I threw in a few other oddities I'd accumulated, and ended up sending a nice big paper box out the door full of junk (and to a cause I wholeheartedly support! Yay Halloween!).

• Almost all of TC's outgrown clothes. I thought I'd save a few things for sentimental reasons, but one day when I was looking through the boxes of stuff I'd lovingly washed, folded, and sealed away I was HORRIFIED at how many things had yellowed already! (I thought only formula babies did that?!?!?) I decided then and there not to hold on to things - I had photos for posterity, and selling the clothes (& gear) through the JBF sales pretty much ends up being a "trade in" effect where selling the old pays for the "new" and we keep the kid clothed. In the past 2 months I've gotten rid of at least 4 big tubs of baby &  maternity stuff, and made a little chunk of cash doing it!

• A whole bunch of baby formula samples - some expired (boo) and I had to throw them away, but I was able to send 3 canisters to the Postal Service food drive (and they were picked up right at my door!) so they will go to someone who needs them now.

• A whole bunch of crappy socks & underwear in the trash. I followed the Discardia rule of putting a  garbage can in every room (okay, I didn't put one in every room, but I put one in my bedroom) and it made a HUGE difference! Instead of piling stuff on my dresser to throw away, or just not dealing with it, I pitched things on the spot and BOOM - way more drawer space, from stuff I wasn't wearing anyways.

• 
  The "Puff Daddy Forever" flag I've had since 1999 I guess. Despite not being a PD fan, I held on to it for all these years and throughout all my moves because it was a memento of a fun night. It was time to let go. The memory was enough. The flag could go.

• A pair of giant platform shoes, 17 paperback books, a set of DVDs, and a baby dress - all sold on Ebay, and all for surprisingly more than I thought!
 
 
• MY JOB & ALL THE UNHAPPINESS IT BROUGHT! It still doesn't feel quite real :)

 

 

 

Bosom Buddies

This is so cool! My "ladies" have gone through some pretty significant changes in the past 2 years (pregnancy, pumping, deflating, weightloss...) so I have a big collection of bras that don't fit (some I only wore once!) and I feel like an ass throwing perfectly wearable stuff in a landfill. I know some people are pretty weirded out by used unmentionables, but it just doesn't gross me out - I don't know why, but I have always felt like someone somewhere could appreciate free lightly worn undergarments, especially if they are already subsisting on a wink and a prayer. What if you fled your abusive home with just the clothes on your back? What if you were homeless? What if you couldn't always feed your kids, would a new bra be one of your priorities? No. But it would be nice to have SOMETHING.


And I hate throwing good stuff in the trash. It hurts my brain a little, in a "potential to be a hoarder if I weren't so practical and running out of storage space anyways" sort of way.

I'd rather my stuff make it to people who need it than hang around a goodwill not selling too. And I'm not dealing with weirdos on Craigslist, Ebay, or yard sale for this kind of stuff.

So yay for Google, I just stumbled on The Bosom Buddy Program, which lead me to BraRecyclers.com and they have Minnesota drop off sites! Fingers crossed that they are still active, if so it will mean another big bag out of my attic and hopefully to a good cause. Hug the world!

Yes, I'm awarding myself gold stars now. I need them.

Gold Star #1: Dropped off a carload of goodies at the JBF sale in Woodbury last night, fingers crossed everything sells and I don't have to drag it back! I could especially use the funding right now, and I'm pretty happy with the carload of stuff that is just no longer impeding my movement around the house. My "craft room" is fairly destroyed still, but SOMEDAY IT WILL BE USABLE AGAIN!

I'm having a mega crabby day with dumb work crap, trying to let it all roll off with "it won't matter much longer" but dear god, I could use a Dove bar. Gold Star #2: A lot of swearing in all caps/symbols and asterisks, but I have yet to slap anyone or growl out loud. That's totally considered a win today.

Gold Star #3: has yet to be earned, but I get at least 3 today, dammit.

I could get used to this...

When I daydreamed my life as a stay at home mom, it was days like yesterday that came to mind. What a lovely morning we had! The Cupcake managed to sleep in (aways a good start), I had Taste of Scandinavia turtle torte (a wickedly delicious cake) for breakfast, and then my sister came over and we set out for adventures with TC. The weather was gorgeous so we walked up to Subway and then over to the city zoo. We walked and walked and walked, and when we got back TC was ready for a nap and ACTUALLY WENT DOWN THIS TIME, PRAISE WHATEVER!

Organization wise I was able to pass on a beautiful dress to my sister that fits her perfectly, which is so much better than putting it on the yard sale rack for $1, and I also handed off a bunch of stuff for some of her upcoming craft projects. In between I continued to sort out stuff to get rid of and streamline throughout the rest of the house.

I got a good deal done in the kitchen as far as organizing my utensils - there is a lot of stuff I want to keep for when I do throw parties, but don't need to be digging through on an every day basis, so I packed up all the spare ladles and tongs in Ziploc bags and they will hang out in the attic till I'm in need of them again.

I completely hauled out the linen closet and made it more child friendly (though not exactly child proof) by moving all the poison cleaning stuff and glass vases up above TC's reach, and sorting out the 10,000 bobby pins and hair binders that show up in every corner of the house. I use a garage organizer meant for screws and nals to keep all my hair stuff and cosmetics separated, and it works pretty well if I keep up with putting stuff back, so it was good to reset everything. I also found 3 pillow cases wrongly put away in the closet (I know, we don't really keep linens in the linen closet) so I was able to add back in to the rotation, which really helps!
And in TC's room I started pulling the tags off and washing all her 24 month clothes (from the JBF sale - I don't wash new stuff, but I can't deal with the smells of other people's clothes ). She's still wearing 18 month but some of the shirts and dresses of 24 month would work now too, and I want her to get the most wear out of it all that we can and not miss any great things (which I have done before and learned from!).

As I look ahead I think the best use of my time would really be to price all of the yard sale stuff right now as I box it up, so I should try to do that before I get too much set aside (that's my least favorite part!). I managed to find some masking tape and permanent markers, so I have no more excuses. Then when I can figure out a date, I'm MUCH closer to actually making it happen than just having a pile of stuff to sort through again...so I'll get on that.

Also - guess who got a sunburn today?!?!? Nooooooooo!

(Clarification for Grammy - it was me. Cupcake is still porcelain pale).

The rest of Tuesday...

Tuesday did, in fact, kick my @$$, but I managed to get a bunch of stuff done. The Cupcake never did nap, and after an hour and a half of yelling at the top of her lungs I threw up the white flag and released her, begrudgingly. And exhaustedly. And fairly bummed out. I really look forward to "our" naptime, and part of my willingness to try and pull off a busy morning of adventures was because we'd been getting good naptime performances for a while. Just goes to show once again who is in charge...

But once she recovered from her prolonged fit, she was in a fine mood and puttered around the house while I continued my organizational quest. I cleaned out a few old purses and started on the linen closet. Does everyone else find that tampons multiply in the dark? Because I swear I'm finding half a box in every purse I open, despite being pregnant/nursing most of the past two years. I don't understand where they are coming from!

I also found a MAJOR score - the $30+ Bare Minerals powder I KNEW I had bought (almost 2 years ago) and somehow swept up with a pile of other crap - brand new and unopened! Yay!

TC found a pack of Post-It notes somewhere and had a jolly good time pulling each one apart and spreading them around the house, sticking them on Norm's head, and eventually eating them (oops).

I put together a huge box of travel size/hotel toiletries and some random baby formula samples we received that I'm thinking of dropping off at a shelter - it looks like People Serving People takes both of them, now I just have to actually set aside a time to venture down there...or find something closer.

I also found a bunch of expired stuff that I had a hard time throwing out - and I'm trying to get better at that, but I have some sort of strange WASPY (am I just WASY?) guilt at not getting to stuff like medicines, sunscreen, and especially food before it expires. I particularly felt bad that half of the baby formula I found was past it's date - I'd imagine the powdered stuff is still fine, but I doubt anyone would take a chance with a baby and I definitely wouldn't with someone else's child, so into the trash it went. I'm trying to let it go emotionally now :) In general both the husband and I are pretty awful about left overs, so that is going to be a major area we work on to stretch our funds.

It ended up being such a nice warm day yesterday we were able to throw open the windows and let the fresh air in, and TC wore shorts for the first time! I am in love with her chunky little knees and can't stop biting on her pork chops. This adorable outfit was another score from the JBF sale a few weeks ago, I think it was $4.50. Unfortunately, she's much too busy to spare any time to smile at me!

Tuesday is winning, but I put up a good fight...

I'm staring Tuesday dead in the eye, and so far we're at a draw but I think I'm dangerously close to crying uncle and telling Tuesday it kicked my butt (and it's not even 1pm!). Today we ran errands. I think that is the most drastic difference in my post-baby life (other than sleep, of course) is how much more difficult it is to run "simple" errands and keep up on the tiniest of tasks. Today, for example, I had 3 things on my list, 3 separate stops but within a couple blocks of each other in the same area of town. I fed The Cupcake and packed up our supplies, bribed the dog not to destroy the house (yes, we do that. And it usually works) - and all of that took over an hour just to get out of the door.

Once we were on our way, the first stop was the post office to mail 2 documents that were all pre-addressed and ready. I grabbed my two separate methods of payment before we went in, and decided not to bother with the stroller for the quick stop. Luckily we were the only customers and were able to walk right up, but I had to wrestle TC the whole time. Now that she can walk, all she wants to do is RUN and GRAB and DESTROY anything she can. At first I thought that the empty post office might be okay for a few moments since she couldn't open the heavy doors and the counters were high and out of reach, but they had a huge display of greeting cards right inside the door that she exclaimed over immediately, so I had to carry her the whole time. We still got through the task rather quickly, and spent more time getting in and out of the carseat than anything else.

Stop 2 was National Camera Exchange for a return. When I got my new lens I was talked into buying a protective  cover which I really didn't need, and which I found out was too small anyways (despite the lady taking at my camera and picking out "the right one"), so I just returned it and felt much happier. Before I left I had put the item and the receipt in a plastic bag in my purse, so I was organized when I got there and minimized the awkward digging, but again I had to juggle TC who was more than ready to remodel the store. They had a big train table with little Thomas toys, but she had no interest in that when there were racks of "stuff" so nearby. Somehow we made it out without destroying anything!

Stop 3 took a little longer, so I loaded the little miss into her stroller and somehow managed to balance 2 big plastic tubs full of clothes as I steered it all towards Turnstyle Consignment Store. As I mentioned I'm planning on a yard sale, but clothes are always an area I feel never make much dough - you have to price things pretty low, and then hope someone your size & with your (former) taste wanders by too - not great odds. So I decided to take a stab at consigning and see how it goes. It was busy and we had to wait in line, but they let me drop my stuff and wheel TC around so I could sort of keep her occupied (kid loves mirrors, which they thankfully have in most stores!). I avoided looking at much because right off the bat I found a cool pair of Born shoes I wanted, but that weren't all that practical and would have eaten up all my potential profits anyways. It took almost an hour but they took 17 of my 25 items, and I'll get 45% of the selling price if it goes in the next 90 days, so fingers crossed.

After all that I was pretty zonked, but the idea of piling TC back into the car again seemed like too much work so we walked down the block to Wendy's first. TC wasn't in the mood to eat, not even the FROSTY, so I ended up polishing off way more than I should have and feeling remorseful and sluggish. Oops. So we headed back to the car and cruised home where I'm HOPING lady cupcake will acquiesce to a nap, but so far she's kind of squawky...I, on the other hand, could fall asleep standing up and just might if she doesn't let me rest a little!

Post-Discardia

I finished Discardia in 2 days and it was good. Worth $2.99, but there is definitely a lot I don't agree with too - for example, the author really seems to hate on TV (especially cable), car ownership, the suburbs, and a few other things that I find freeing, relaxing, and overall joyful. There's a bit of a hipster bend overall (not having kids in order to lessen your carbon footprint, everyone should live in a city, and eating organic/exercising makes everyone feel better all the time - um, no thanks), and the idea of the specifically timed "holidays" to build your "Discardian Lifestyle" around strike me a little bit cult-like, but there is definitely some good to be found.

The focus is pretty broad, and there are a LOT of areas covered - everything from physical junk to electronic and even mental or emotional. Not all of it will apply to everyone - for example, email has never been a source of trauma for me but a LOT of time in the book is devoted to ways to organize your inbox. Likewise the suggestion to let go of bias or preconceived notions of people was kind of off base for me - and seemed out of context with the rest of the book which encourages snap decisions, and empowering the individual to make those decisions on the spot without a lot of guilt/worry about missing out. I feel no need to watch Fox News or read Tea Party propaganda, and that is basically an organizational tool I find easy - a way to narrow options early in the process.

I like the ideas regarding freeing yourself from obligation (which rarely is obligatory other than in your own perception) and focusing your time on being with people you want, doing things you want, and I've been working on that this past year. One area this concept also manifests is my blogging - I have this idea that I always need a photo with a post, so I get behind or sidetracked when I can't get a photo (or get it uploaded) and end up not posting at all - but who said every post needs a picture? Created somewhere in my mind I think.

I also appreciate the analysis of what to do with what you are discarding - for many people the time spent Ebaying or yard selling it doesn't add up to the profits (especially if you have to take time off work to get it done), however in my new life of poverty, I will have more time than funding, and will need to make every opportunity count, which means using all my assets in the best way. I'm hoping to have a yard sale this summer and to that end have packed up several boxes of stuff already. Sure, tagging and organizing is a LOT of work, but even $400 would keep The Cupcake and I entertained for most of the summer (or pay a bill).

I'm not sure I learned a lot, and I still haven't figured out my life goals (or how to even discern them). There's a lot of cute (if randomly assembled) quotes and mantras, and it was inspiring if nothing else - today I cleaned out  my underwear drawer ("You deserve nice underwear!"), and filled up a plastic tub with my closet discards in under 20 minutes. One of the better tips was to attack your closet when you are badly in need of doing laundry - then you can see what you still don't wear even when you are fairly desperate. As I mentioned before, I've been working on my closet for a while now, and with a major change in my daily fashion requirements, it's a good time to make some big changes, but at the same time I won't have money to replace anything I give away too fleetingly, and any money I'd get at a yard sale for clothing is a pittance compared to replacement costs, so I really need to proceed with caution.

I like having "the perfect thing" for any occasion, but unfortunately I just don't have time/am not able to prioritize keeping the house in a functional state with all those perfect things. It's nice to be able to bring serving utensils, platters, and punch bowls to a banquet - but then it takes me months to do the extra dishes and get them back into a storage type area, so in the end I'll have to decide if just serving pop from the bottle or juice from the jug might have brought  me more happiness...and I'm not sure yet.

But it has me thinking...

Spring Cleaning (my whole life)

I have sort of a "trial run" for my new life this week as I'll be home with The Cupcake every day. It comes at a good time as I just wrapped up a lot of obligations with my part time job, and I can actually "relax" a little and not worry about getting a million other things done...in theory...

My house is out of sorts and has been for some time. We've never really been daily cleaners, more a "panic the hour before people are coming over" variety of housekeeping. And then of course post-TC life has been all about survival. I've come to accept a lot of it, which shows a good amount of growth on my part, since despite being a terrible cleaner I was also really paranoid about people seeing such things, and would fret and freak out and generally make everyone miserable as I tried to get it done.

So now my house is messy, and I can accept that, but still hope to change it. And soon, with my house being my primary surroundings 24/7, I think I will attempt to take some action. I want to get into a routine of covering the basic household chores so things don't pile up and feel so overwhelming to tackle at their boiling point. I want to organize and find procedures and short cuts that work for our lives.

In furtherance of this quest I'm currently reading a book I found via NotMartha called Discardia: More Life, Less Stuff. It's pretty good so far, nothing real ground breaking but a few helpful tips and a lot of reaffirming stuff I already do, which makes me feel smart and important. Yeah, I just admitted that. It's both about streamlining your life and making room/energy/priority to find and do the things that make you happy.

This comes at a very opportune time for me.

If I had an iPhone I'd definitely get one of those apps that gives you gold stars (or points or whatever) for doing household chores and checking off to-do lists, because I thrive on those tiny victories, but until then I'll just have to post my accomplishments here (sorry!). Per Discardia I'm doing small things to build up good habits, the important thing being to do "something," even if it is the wrong decision at least it is momentum and it is easier to correct the route of something in motion than to get it started in the first place.

Today I went through the refrigerator and dumped all the outdated food (we suck at leftovers). I didn't worry about scrubbing down all the surfaces, because if I had to do all that too I probably wouldn't have done any of it. Starting small, with  accomplishable mini goals that eventually lead to good habits. And I also love the idea of not punishing yourself for all the stuff you don't get to or don't choose to do - I'll work on that. I also ran 2 loads of dishes, took a 3 hour nap (YAY!) and picked up a bunch of plastic storage tubs at Target for further organizational fun. Yipee!

Spring Cleaning - in theory...

Despite all my talk about recent acquisitions, I'm actually looking forward to streamlining in the near future. I think our early spring is wreaking havoc on my urge to organize, but I just can't get that to the top of my priority list with everything else going on, so things go in stacks and piles for a bit longer. With The Cupcake now fully mobile, those stacks and piles have to be strategically placed on the mantle, behind the locked door to the attic, or sprawled across the dining room table, which is a constant battle.

I've made a few minor steps forward, getting this armoire (ridiculously cheap and on sale at Sears, where they even loaded it in my car). It went together fairly easily, with the exception of the tracks for the drawer which I put on wrong a few times, and one of the screws for the handles is missing, but after some trial and error we decided to leave them off for the time being - kid proofing doesn't always mean locking! It's more of a deterrent, I'm sure she *could* get the drawer open without them, but she doesn't try so all is well. She does occasionally walk over and jiggle the giant plastic child proof lock on the doors, just to see if it happens to be open, and when I take it off to get something out she goes into ninja mode and is at my side before I can blink. It feels really stable and looks much more expensive, but since we really only need it to protect stuff for a few years, it is just right. I keep my camera and chargers in there, paperwork for coaching, and other things that I need to access regularly but not immediately. My mom's computer lives on top, along with a stack of bibs for the day and usually some mail. I still need to get a better system down, as I tend to swoop up piles of paper and "lose" important mail in the process, but it's a start.

The attic (formerly "craft room") is the worst, it's been a dumping ground since Xmas 2011. I've spent a handful of evenings up there in the past year and a half, but not enough to do more than move a few piles around and make a path. I did clear out a TON of stuff at the JBF sale - nearly all of TC's baby clothes and all of my maternity stuff sold, which was GREAT and made justifying my purchases MUCH easier! The next step is a yard sale, which I usually do pretty well with but which are also a crapload of work. I donated my tent to MNLove, so I'll have to figure out new logistics, tag everything, haul it down, spread it across the lawn, and simultaneously entertain The Cupcake. Hmm.

At the same time, there is always the danger of getting rid of too much - what if I send something out the door for a measly quarter, and find out I need it again down the road? I'll kick myself, especially since I plan to remain poor at best for the next great while. Oh, the great dilemmas I face daily!

Also, remember when I posted all that jibberish about how I was taking control of my closet, and I'd set out these great rules? Yeah, I failed at that pretty darned quick. I believe my very next purchase was a dry-clean only dress (super cute, and I wore it several times, but come on, what was I thinking? It's $15 a wear! That is NOT my lifestyle.), followed by 2 pair of pants that desperately need hems taken up. I had a few JC Penny gift cards, and somehow talked myself into the wrong things. They really are good rules, if only my legs were 3" longer and I could wear dress pants and khakis off the rack! And I bought some cute shirts I thought fit just fine when I tried them on, but my bra straps always end up hanging out, so I'm thinking I should just throw in the towel on them...add them to the piles. Also, I need to remember I spend half my day bending over and running after TC, so my necklines need to act appropriately.

I'm also currently getting excited about finishing a few projects we started in the basement only to sideline myself with more monetary worries. We took out our bar this winter, realizing that it was cute but totally non-practical. We used it for Halloween parties in our old lives, but otherwise who would sit at a bar and stare at the wall? It had turned into a dumping ground, and the room was wasted. We decided to turn it into a playroom and the hubby & my dad set to work doing what I thought would be a simple uninstall...only to find the bar had been built piece by piece in it's location, and was NOT coming out in any other way. I had hoped to be able to sell it to finance some of the mini renovation, but it was totally destroyed. Last weekend I finally went and picked out a new cabinet to put in it's place (we're reinstalling the sink, and staging the whole thing as a bar again, but flat against the wall, more like a serving buffet than a bar you sit around). As feared, there was no carpet underneath what we removed, so we have a giant gaping hole right now, next to a section of stick on faux parquet, and I have to decide whether to replace the flooring for the whole basement now and enjoy it, throw a rug over it and wait till Norm dies and we decrease our chance of ruining new carpet, or just wait till we're going to move. Either way, something has to be done, it's just a matter of when and how much we are willing to put into it. So far I'm not sure. And so it all sits.

Anyone else have spring fever?